Marine cadets’ unemployment soars

Unemployment of marine cadets and junior officers is at its peak due to widening gap between supply and demand over the last few years, competent sources said.

In total, 250 junior officers with competency certificates and 226 passed-out cadets since December 2013 are virtually unemployed. They are appealing for jobs in different shipping companies in Bangladesh and abroad.

Bangladesh merchant fleet (ocean-going) is shrinking very fast with the total number now standing at only 39 ships compared to 68 at the end of 2012.

The cadets raised a few points to the authority concerned at a press conference in Dhaka on September 25. Not getting landing permit (visa) for countries like India, UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Singapore becomes a prime barrier to the officers and cadets to join ships.

Another important reason of soaring unemployment is the number of intakes of much more than the current demand in the government-controlled Marine Academy.

A senior teacher of the Marine Academy has stated that usually 100 cadets per annum can meet up the demand but the authority has increased the intake to 300 per annum since 2011 and planned to take 500 in 2015.

Moreover, every year 500 cadets are passing out from 12 private institutes in the country. The senior teacher disclosed that more intake means more bonuses for the permanent instructors.

Another source said the number of instructors compared to the number of cadets is very few for which the quality of education deteriorated alarmingly.

The source said a representative of IMEC (International Maritime Employers’ Council) along with some manning agents visited Marine Academy, Chittagong on October 4 last and examined the skill of cadets. This is a routine visit by the IMEC since 2011 but not a single cadet has been recruited since then, the source said.

The IMO (International Maritime Organization) and STCW (Standard of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping) regulations have suggested one instructor for 30 cadets but in the Marine Academy, Chittagong it is one for 80. In the press conference, the unemployed cadets also urged the Marine Academy authority to utilise the ‘Image Promotion Fund’ which is yet to be utilised. The amount will stand at around Tk 10 million at the end of December 2014.

Another crucial point raised by the cadets is fake CDC (Continuous Discharge Certificate) and fake competency certificate which shattered the job seekers’ hope of getting jobs.

Also issuance of ID (Identity Document) by the Department of Shipping since 2004 for unauthorised seamen becomes a nuisance and is noticed by the IMO and the ILO (International Labour Organisation) officials with grave concern.

Even SID (Seamen Identity Document), a recommended document by the ILO, was found improper by the ILO Mission during its visit on 7-9 September, 2014. The ILO Mission expressed its dissatisfaction over ID issued by the Shipping Department as it is not authorised by IMO and ILO and this might have a negative impact on white listing in the IMO.

Captain Anam Chowdhury, a veteran master mariner and director of a shipping company at Agrabad in the port city, told this correspondent there is no new recruitment of cadets in the country for long as the number of seagoing ships has come down to 39 from 65 some 18 months back.

The private marine academy institutions take Tk 1.2 million to Tk 1.6 million from a cadet. The government should either take action against those institutions or close them permanently, he said.

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Source: The Financial Express